Prepared by:

Dr. Kevin JamesScottish Studies Foundation Chair

Director, Centre for Scottish StudiesProfessor, Department of History

November 2020

University of Guelph | College of Arts

The Scottish Studies Foundation Chair in

Scottish StudiesESTABLISHED 2004

It is my great pleasure to introduce your 2020 Annual Report, delivered by Dr. Kevin James, the new Scottish Studies Foundation Chair of Scottish Studies and Director of the Centre for Scottish Studies.

As you will recall, June 1, 2020 marked the beginning for Dr. James’ tenure. He took the reins during a time of change and uncertainty as we all confronted the unique challenges of a global pandemic – I am confident in his ability to lead our illustrious Scottish Studies program along its continued path of excellence and innovation.

Presenting this report is an annual opportunity for me to personally reflect on the remarkable accomplishments that stem from your extraordinary partnership with the University of Guelph and specifically, our Scottish Studies program.

I hope that the following pages will adequately illustrate not only the magnitude of your impact, but also the enormous depth of our appreciation.

I wish you and yours great health and wellness.

Sincerely, Samantha BrennanDean, College of ArtsUniversity of Guelph

Thank you from the Dean, College of Arts

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As the new Scottish Studies Foundation Chair at the University of Guelph, I am honoured and delighted to present you with the 2020 Annual Report from the Scottish Studies Centre.

As you know, this has been a year of transition and I am grateful for the many people who have been integral to my positive onboarding experience.

Beyond the excellent faculty, students, and staff who have brought their time and skill to our efforts this past year, the overwhelming gratitude that all of us share at the Centre for Scottish Studies is directed at the good people behind the Scottish Studies Foundation.

Throughout a year of re-organization and the unusual circumstances of a global pandemic, we continue to be the privileged recipients of your generosity, vision, and partnership. For well over two decades, the Scottish Studies Foundation has been integral to the robust graduate programs, intensive research and learning, and our coveted international reputation in the field of Scottish Studies.

The following report is meant to chronicle the events of the past year, your continued impact on each of our successes, and the deep appreciation that we feel at the Centre for Scottish Studies.

Thank you for your steadfast, broad, and meaningful contributions to our students, faculty, and community.

With sincere gratitude and best wishes for your good health,

Kevin James, PhDScottish Studies Foundation ChairDirector, Centre for Scottish StudiesProfessor, Department of History

Thank you from theScottish StudiesFoundation Chair in Scottish Studies

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In January 2020, members of the Scottish Studies Foundation gathered to celebrate the life of a re-spected mentor, formidable advocate, and dear friend.

Alan McKenzie lived with passion for his family, his friends, and his many diverse interests. As a natu-ral leader in the finance industry and in life, McKenzie paid homage to his proud Scottish heritage by devoting time and expertise to his roles as a founding member, past President, and Newsletter Editor at the Scottish Studies Foundation. Alan was integral to the creation of an endowed Chair in Scottish Studies and his legacy is at the heart of our preeminence.

He was a regular participant in the Highland Games in Canada, the United States, New Zealand, and Scotland. In 1987, he founded the Canadian Chapter of the Clan MacKenzie Society in the Americas. Working with the Earl of Cromartie (the chief of the MacKenzie Clan), Alan raised funds for the resto-ration of the MacKenzie castle, Castle Leod, in Scotland. In 2004 he coordinated the MacKenzie DNA Project that helps people explore their genealogy. An insatiable reader, Alan was also an enthusiastic member of his local Burns Club for many years.

Although it was boundless, Alan’s remarkable philanthropy and meaningful volunteer work was not limited to his Scottish heritage. Indeed, his readiness to help was as broad as his multi-faceted inter-ests and passions.

Alan McKenzie led a life of distinction in all his pursuits – the legacy of his involvement at the Scottish Studies Foundation and the memories of his enthusiasm and goodwill will live on in our hearts.

September 22, 1936 – January 2, 2020

A Life of Distinction ALAN MCKENZIE ACIB, FICB, FlnstD, FSA Scot

Lieutenant to Cobarfeidh

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Three faculty members have ably served the position of Acting Scottish Studies Foundation Chair and Director of the Centre for Scottish Studies before my appointment on June 1, 2020. James Fraser expanded the scope of our research activities during his tenure as Scottish Studies Foundation Chair, and Elizabeth Ewan and Linda Mahood have granted their priceless support and leadership as I took on this new and exciting role.

Since January 2020, our postdoctoral scholar, Dr. Sierra Dye as well as Lisa Baer-Tsarfati and Mariah Hudec in the Scottish Studies office have contributed a tremendous wealth of knowledge and assistance as I moved into your prestigious Chair position.

During this transition, the entire world has been challenged by a global pandemic. Present circumstances have circumscribed travel and event planning, but we remain committed to maintaining an active roster of activities, teaching, and research programs. Working with our colleagues and partners at the University of Guelph and the wider community we continue our plans for a complete resumption of activities even as we pivot within the fluid safety parameters of pandemic conditions.

The Scottish Studies Foundation support, their exhaustive fundraising, and constant inspiration live at the heart of our successes; in our ability to offer continued excellence; in the inspiration that stems from your confidence in our faculty, students, staff, and facilities; and in the ‘can-do’ example that is borne of your perseverance and hard work.

The pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges to every walk of life and academia is no exception. Beyond the serious and widespread issues brought forward by Covid-19, it is

noteworthy that the pandemic has intensified the impact of several strategic contributions.

For example, support from important donors like the Scottish Studies Foundation has been instrumental in sustaining our programs. One stellar example of our ability to maintain internationally acclaimed excellence in the study of all things Scottish, is found in the Scottish Studies Foundation Digitization Room. Students, researchers, and faculty at the University of Guelph, and around the world have been able to maintain a connection to our remarkable Scottish Studies collections and archives, despite the multiple levels of pandemic-related closures and moratoriums. The SSF Digitization Room is just one of many areas of support and collaboration—in this case with leadership of the University Library and its Archival and Special Collections unit, which have been stalwarts in our partnerships with you over many years, and for which we are grateful.

Scholarships and student support are another critical area in which the Foundation has provided leadership. Scholarships remain a priority for Scottish Studies, particularly in the current economic climate. Our gratitude to you for always placing students and scholarship opportunities at the forefront of your commitments is as deep and broad as it is heartfelt.

NAVIGATING THE EXTRAORDINARY CHALLENGES OF 2020

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2019-2020 SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Outreach is a core mission of our program and despite the circumstances surrounding the 2020 global pandemic, we maintained an active roster of speakers and roundtables.

Both faculty and students involved in Scottish Studies at the U of G have hosted a busy schedule of outreach activities and their impacts have res-onated widely. For example, Prof. Elizabeth Ewan spoke at the Glasgow Women’s Library and was interviewed on BBC Radio Scotland. On a sepa-rate occasion, our postdoctoral scholar Dr. Sierra Dye, was also a guest of BBC Radio Scotland and I served as a consultant on a PBS KIDS series called ‘Let’s Go Luna’ for episodes exploring Scot-tish history and culture. My research into Scottish tourism and travel history continues as I draw on our collections, and the unique opportunities they provide for promoting intersecting teaching and research at all levels of study.

Research output from CSS was impressive – the International Review of Scottish Studies was is-sued with extensive publications recorded by faculty, students, and alumni. Our students also distinguished themselves in other important ways:

In spring 2020, Persephone Seale successfully

defended her MA thesis, titled ‘Narrative Ambigu-ity, Bodily Uncertainty, and Community Involve-ment: Infanticide in Seventeeth-Century Scotland’; and Katie Comper completed her MA when she successfully defended her thesis titled ‘The Life of Lady Anna Mackenzie: Noblewomen, Kinship Networks and Power in Seventeenth-Century Scotland’ - congratulations to Persephone and Ka-tie!. Several other achievements of note included PhD student Lisa Baer-Tsarfati and postdoctoral scholar Dr. Sierra Dye on receiving College of Arts Teaching Awards – well deserved!; with the tireless support of staff and librarians, students actively engaged in experiential learning using our excep-tional Archival and Special Collections; two under-graduate classes explored our outstanding travel ephemera collections in the fall; and in March 2020, Dr. Sierra Dye presented research and col-laborated with Professor Susannah Ferreira and Special Collections Librarian, Melissa McAfee and other staff to launch ‘From Parchment to Pixels: A Celebration of Medieval Manuscripts’ exhibit.

All of the these accomplishments, including the calendar of events that follow, are made possible through the Scottish Studies Foundation – your tireless fundraising and support have immediate impacts that affect current faculty and students to be sure, but your validation and encourage-ment are part of a broad influence that has raised our profile, brought philanthropy and goodwill to decades of our cohorts, and supported the ad-vanced research, extensive collections, and excep-tional Scottish Studies curricula. You remain at the core of our excellence.

August 6, 2019 | Our 2018-19 Annual Report end-ed on an inspired note when we welcomed The Right Honourable The Reverend Canon Joseph John Morrow CBE KStJ QC DL, Lord Lyon King of Arms, Maggie McEwan, Vice President, Scottish

In the Fall of 2019, the Centre for Scottish

Studies hosted a highly successful

colloquium entitled “Representing the

Scottish Past in Film, Text, and Media”.

The colloquia are brilliant opportunities for

us to present our research, create lively

discussion, engage students, broaden

networks, and showcase the University of

Guelph’s authority in Scottish Studies.

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Studies Foundation, and Bob Smart to the Centre for Scottish Studies. President Franco Vaccarino and Daniel Atlin (VP, External) were delighted to join our distinguished guests for a brief tour that highlighted research by students and faculty and helped define the extraordinary impacts of the SSF on our Scottish Studies program.

Despite the challenges presented by Covid-19, we are proud to share another robust schedule of events, albeit in a pandemic-modified form, in our 2019-20 Annual Report:

August 8, 2019 | Our doctoral candidate and Centre for Scottish Studies (CSS) office administrator Mariah Hudec was invited to speak to The Humanities Interdisciplinary Collaboration (THINC) Lab Fellows.

Mariah Hudec is a fifth-year PhD student in literature and Scottish studies at the University of Guelph. She received a BA (Hons) in History from Cape Breton University, and an MScR in Scottish History from the University of Edinburgh, where her research focused on fairy belief in the context of the Scottish witch-hunts. Her current research is focused on how two nineteenth-century popular print forms - collections of Scottish “superstitions” or folk beliefs and Scottish children’s literature - have participated in discourses of authenticity and national identity. Mariah is currently working on her dissertation.

“I continue to appreciate the ways that SSF

has supported my research, not only by

helping to provide access to this and other

fascinating material, but also by providing

the generous support of travel grants and

supporting the current and past work of

graduate students in the Centre for Scottish

Studies Office. Thank you!”

Mariah Hudec

THINC Lab is a designated space on the 2nd floor of the McLaughlin Library that provides worksta-tions, computer stations, and large monitors for projecting from laptops that brings interdisciplinary and digital humanities research, training, and col-laboration to students and faculty.

The Humanities Interdisciplinary Collabora-tion Lab is a space that supports collaborative, interdisciplinary, and digital humanities research at the University of Guelph. In partnership between the Library and the College of Arts, the THINC Lab is meant to support digital methodologies for research and publication in the humanities. The supportive environment is building a digital hu-manities community at the University of Guelph and presents opportunities for practical and critical engagement.

August 15, 2019 | Doctoral candidate and CSS office administrator Mariah Hudec presented at the International Conference on Children’s Literature in Stockholm, Sweden.

International Perspectives on Silence, Navigation, and Water in Writing for the Young: relying on her knowledge of Scottish Fairy Tales, Mariah’s paper, “I know the story you are going to tell”: Voicing Child Readers in George MacDonald’s The Prin-cess and the Goblin added thought-provoking discussion to the conference theme, ‘Silence and Silencing in Children’s Literature’.

In her paper Mariah argues that The Princess and the Goblin resonates with MacDonald’s own Chris-tian cultural framework and provides a model of behaviour for “real” Princesses (and ‘good’ little girls), but it also plays with expectations about ide-al children as passive or unquestioning recipients of adult wisdom. Instead, MacDonald constructs an implied child readership which is shown to be both curious and knowledgeable – at times more so than characters in the story itself. Says Hudec: “Through the inclusion of banter between his nar-rator and these readers, MacDonald suggests that a fairy tale repertoire encourages conversation between children and adults and by extension, between readers and texts.”

August 23, 2019 | Doctoral candidate and CSS Office administrator Lisa Baer-Tsarfati presented the second chapter of her thesis in an open col-

loquium. The chapter looks at computational ap-proaches to the study of ambition in early modern Scotland.

Lisa Baer-Tsarfati is a fourth-year PhD student in History and Scottish studies at the University of Guelph. She received a Bachelor’s of Science (Psychology) from the University of Illinois at Urba-na-Champaign and her MScR (Scottish History), with distinction, from the University of Edinburgh where she studied the gradation of cultural be-haviour within elite society in sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century Perthshire. Her doctoral research examines the gendering and construc-tion of ambition in early modern Scotland and its relationship to existing structures of power and control. Lisa currently works in the Centre for Scot-tish Studies Office and is an assistant editor of the International Review of Scottish Studies.

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Mariah Hudec, second from right, with her expert panel from the International Conference in Children’s Literature, August 15, 2019, Stockholm, Sweden (before COVID)

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“Without the enthusiastic interest from

members of the SSF, I would never have

been given so many incredible opportunities,

nor am I the only one to have benefited so

considerably from the resources from this

program, as many Guelph PhD’s have come

before me…Thank you!”

Lisa Baer-Tsarfati

September 13, 2019 | CSS held a Student/Faculty Meet and Greet at the Brass Taps to welcome new and returning students and to share information about the Centre. This event was an opportunity for our new students to realize and our returning students to be reminded of, the breadth and depth of the Scottish Studies Foundation’s impact on our nationally and internationally acclaimed Scottish Studies program.

October 5, 2019 | Our highly successful 2019 Fall Colloquium, hosted by the University of Guelph, once again delivered an engaging theme: “Repre-sentations of the Scottish Past in Film, Literature,

and Media”. These events bring advanced discus-sion, interesting dimension, relevant networks, and deeper learning to our students, faculty, and com-munity – we are grateful for the Scottish Studies Foundation who consistently sponsor and support our intriguing colloquia.

October 29, 2019 | Dr. Sierra Dye, CSS adjunct faculty and post-doctoral scholar, was invited back for a second year to speak at the Grimsby Mu-seum’s ‘Hallowe’en’ lecture where she again en-thralled her audience on the subjects of Scotland’s infamous witch-hunts and other spooky tales of Samhain. The attendees were (trick-or-) treated to many engaging stories about bogles, witches, and Tam O’Shanter.

November 7, 2019 | Roundtable Talk with Dr. Cynthia Neville (professor Emerita at Dalhousie University) led a discussion about “The Lives of the Medieval Leges”.

December 5, 2019 | CSS doctoral candidate, Chelsea Hartlen spoke on “Murder, Maps, Effu-sions of Blood and…Hanging Indents? Sixteenth Century Evidence for the Centralization and Profes-sionalization of Scotland’s Justiciary Court”.

While it is true that leading minds in Scotland con-tributed to the judiciary systems that many of us are privileged with today, the strong Scottish influ-ences on multiple jurisdictions of modern society are part of an enlightened movement that some would argue, can be traced to their Seventeenth century implementation of universal education. One need only look to the popularity of the Scot-tish chapbooks, a product that encouraged literacy and brought affordable reading material to all so-cio-economic levels.

Scottish people understand and cherish their contributions. As beneficiaries of their legacy, we embrace, admire, and continue to learn from the Scottish tradition, as demonstrated by the success of our Scottish Studies program and the mean-ingful support it enjoys from the Scottish Studies Foundation.

January 20, 2020 | Travel Awards Competition opens. The travel grants, awarded to graduate students within the department, are made possible via SSF funding. The impact of such an award is broad – as individuals, recipients of the grants are afforded the opportunity to deepen their learning; directly experience the relevance of their studies; and establish an expanded network of colleagues and mentors. As a collective, the Scottish Studies Foundation plants the seeds of selfless giving and goodwill that the recipients will each carry through-out their respective careers and personal journeys.

January 31, 2020 | Lisa Baer-Tsarfati contributes a compelling article, “Gender, Authority, and Control: Male Invective and the Restriction of Female Ambi-tion, 1583-1616” in IRSS v.44 (2019) that is pub-lished online. (On March 17, 2020 Lisa Baer-Tsar-fati distinguished herself with the Tri-U PhD Essay Prize for her IRSS article)

February 10, 2020 | Doctoral candidate Lisa Baer-Tsarfati is invited to lead a workshop on the use of word embedding models for the analysis of historical text at DH@Guelph Summer Work-shops – on a case-by-case basis, depending on participant comfort levels, gatherings were being reviewed and this workshop was unfortunately cancelled. In the Scottish Studies program, it be-came one of the first ‘casualties’ of the Covid-19 pandemic.

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February 13, 2020 | Postdoctoral researcher and ad-junct faculty, Dr. Dye led a Roundtable Talk titled “Fox Glove, Elf Shot, and a Blast of the Evil Eye: A Case for Witchcraft and the Diary of Sir George Maxwell of Pollok”.

March 12, 2020 | Dr. Sierra Dye spoke on “Witches, Warlocks, and Scots, OH MY! Medieval Manuscripts and Magic in Guelph’s Scottish Studies Collection” at the “From Parchment to Pixels: A Celebration of Me-dieval Manuscripts” Colloquium and Exhibit Launch, sponsored by the McLaughlin Library at the University of Guelph.

March 15, 2020 | Travel Award Winners were notified, and the grants were disbursed. As you know, this coincided with a sudden widespread shut-down to minimize the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. We are hopeful that when safety protocols permit, these deserving students will have opportunity to realize the full benefits of this prestigious award. These annual grants remind us of the enormous debt of gratitude we owe to the good people – past and present – behind the Scottish Studies Foundation.

April 2, 2020 | Continuing our creative efforts to stay connected, CSS Office Administrator and doctoral candidate Lisa Baer-Tsarfati was featured on Slate.com for work with AskHistorians, a digital public his-tory forum, with a re-telling of the story of how Robert Bruce’s parents met and married.

April 16, 2020 | The 2019 Frank Watson Book Prize and Other Awards are announced on CCS social me-dia accounts.

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Frank Watson Prize 2019: Timothy Shannon, Gettysburg College for Indian Captive, Indian King

Honorary Mention: Aaron Allen, in-dependent scholar Edinburgh for The Building of Early Modern Edinburgh

Best First Book: Valerie Wallace, Victoria University of Wellington for Scottish Presbyterianism and Settler Colonial Politics

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No one has escaped the upheaval of COVID-19. As organizations, individuals, and communities adapt to the ‘new normal’, the CSS schedule demon-strates our continued programming and robust outreach as we re-imagine our academic commu-nity and outreach to meet the challenges posed by the pandemic.

Fundamental to our success is the steadfast sup-port of the Scottish Studies Foundation. Your grassroots, hard-fought fundraising has resulted in transformative positions such as the SSF Chair in Scottish Studies; unique programming that inspires

our teaching and enhances our learning; sympo-siums that surprise and delight as they advance our stellar programs; roundtables that encourage networking, deeper learning, and community con-nectivity; as well as equipment that preserves our Scottish treasures while enabling worldwide learn-ing and awareness through digitization. All these contributions continue to permeate the Centre as well as the University of Guelph as a whole – not even a global pandemic can dampen the broad impacts of your visionary leadership.

‘Verbose descriptions of historical artifacts often fail to accurately depict the relevance that

objects may have and may fail to ignite the curiosity that fuels this field of interest. Whether

it be navigating hand-drawn atlases that share the precision that is standard among more

modern maps, or deciphering the unfamiliar vernacular used in postcard messages that

can be seen as modern-day texting, the Scottish Collections have sparked a curiosity and

interest in the historical field that I didn’t know I had!

The ability to touch and see historical artifacts allows me to create my own observations

and interpretations, which unlocks a much higher and more meaningful level of learning

that I could have ever hoped for – if a picture is worth a thousand words, a physical

object with images and more is priceless. The Scottish travel collections’ postcards

feature images and text with value beyond measure – they fire the imagination and focus

the mind.”

Aritra Bhattacharjee, Biomedical Science undergraduate student, and recipient of the

prestigious Academic Leadership Scholarship at the University of Guelph, completed

the UNIV*1200, ‘History of Stuff’ first-year seminar course in Fall 2019. It focusses on

historical Scottish postcards in Archival and Special Collections at U of G and resulted in a

collaborative online exhibit, curated by eighteen first-year students.

DR. SIERRA DYEPOSTDOCTORAL FELLOW, CENTRE FOR SCOTTISH STUDIES

I am privileged by my position as a postdoctoral fellow for CSS and I have thoroughly enjoyed the many exciting activities and events that showcase the strength of the Centre over this last unprec-edented academic year. My research, which is focused on gender and speech in Scotland’s witch-hunts, is well-suited to my curiosity and my fel-lowship allows me to work with CSS’s world-class faculty. I also have numerous opportunities to col-laborate with an international community of schol-ars and research with the largest archive of Scottish materials outside of the UK.

My fellowship also affords me the enviable posi-tion of sharing my expertise and passions through teaching, public speaking, and other community events. Witches and magic are naturally compel-ling topics and not surprisingly, their popularity for researchers, students, and the community beyond have led to many invitations to collaborate and to speak at public events.

Last fall, for example, I was interviewed for BBC Radio Scotland’s podcast, ‘Witch-Hunt’ where I was honoured to be featured alongside some of the top names in my field. In the episode ‘Quarrels,

Women, and Bad Magic’, I discussed my research on words and witchcraft, and detailed various con-fessions and trials of accused ‘witches’ who were known for quarreling, cursing, and for being other-wise ‘uppity women’.

This year, I was invited back to speak at the Grims-by Museum’s Annual Hallowe’en Special Lecture

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THE BEST AND THE BRIGHTEST

We continue to be inspired by the deliberation and collective power of your impacts on our Scottish Stud-ies program. The individuals whose passions you help to ignite are the authorities who are thus enabled to share their knowledge, expertise, and enthusiasm with the academic community and beyond.

Case in point – meet Dr. Sierra Dye, a postdoctoral fellow, teacher, researcher, speaker, and student of the history, tradition, and mystery of Canada’s proud Scottish heritage. She is also an engaging academic contributor, fierce ambassador, and grateful beneficiary of the preeminent Scottish Studies program that you have helped us create at the University of Guelph:

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for a second time, where I discussed the rich his-tory of Hallowe’en in Scotland, including its origins in the harvest festival of Samhain and the evolution of trick-or-treating, lantern carving (historically done with turnips!) and other folk rituals, many of which are of course, still popular traditions today.

In the genre of ‘spooky stories’ I also discussed Robert Burns’ 1791 poem, Tam O’Shanter, that contains many supernatural themes and charac-ters, including Auld Nick, multiple witches, and a haunted church. It is especially intriguing that the church in question can be connected to actual his-toric court cases from Scotland’s witch-hunts!

Further to my public engagements, interviews, and invited talks this year, I have also enjoyed multiple opportunities to share my research with the schol-arly community. Some of my most memorable discussions occurred during a talk I gave at the

Top and bottom: Illustration to ‘Tam O’Shanter” b y Robert Burns. Study for an engraving, John Faed

The Scottish Studies Foundation has worked with the University of Guelph’s Scottish Studies pro-gram for over two decades. It is work that is inte-gral in the creation and success of our graduate program and world-renowned position in Scottish Studies. As such, we can attract the best and brightest students to continue our tradition of aca-demic excellence and leadership. Throughout the years, our students have distinguished themselves in multiple ways and the past year has been no different.

Our research output continues to be impressive as evidenced by our current issue of the International Review of Scottish Studies and the extensive pub-lications recorded by faculty, students, and alumna found within.

Persephone Seale and Katie Comper success-fully completed MAs in the spring of 2020. Con-gratulations to Katie and Persephone!!

PhD student Lisa Baer and postdoctoral scholar Dr. Sierra Dye were recognized at the College of Arts Teaching Excellence Awards on November 14, 2019. Dr. Sierra Dye, CSS adjunct faculty won the Sessional Instructor Award and Lisa Baer-Tsar-fati, doctoral candidate and CSS office adminis-trator won the Teaching Assistant Award! Both of these leaders in research and teaching have en-joyed the many positive impacts that the Scottish Studies Foundation has brought to the University of Guelph – their success is part of yours. Thank you and Congratulations to our Scottish Studies shining stars!

Scottish Studies Roundtable Speaker Series in February. I reviewed a case that I discovered in the University of Guelph archives called ‘Foxglove, Elf Shot, and a Blast of the Evil Eye: A Case for Witchcraft and the Diary of Sir George Maxwell of Pollok’. The case is very interesting and includes words of charms and spells, the ingredients in magical salves, and other perceived powers of witches. The talk was well-attended and included a contingent from the Guelph Civic Museum, who have since approached me to collaborate on a future exhibit.

Another invitation to present came from the Mc-Laughlin Library’s medieval manuscript colloqui-um and exhibit launch on March 12, 2020: ‘From Parchment to Pixels’ where I was privileged to highlight the strength of the Scottish Studies Col-lection in the library’s Archival and Special Collec-tions, particularly for researchers of medieval and early modern magic. We were honoured by an attendee representing the Scottish Studies Foun-

dation, who was very pleased to see the work of the CSS that was made possible in very large part by our steadfast friends at SSF.

It is notable that March 12th marked the beginning of postponements caused by the global pandemic. Despite the associated challenges of re-thinking our strategies, we have continued our mainstream media and podcasts, collaborative projects and scholarly publications, virtual community events, and meaningful outreach such that the Centre for Scottish Studies has been able to maintain its remarkable influence and impact. We contin-ue to appeal to donors, scholars, and students alike, making our Centre a priceless and world-re-nowned institution at the University of Guelph.

I consider myself most fortunate to have been involved and affiliated with the Centre for Scottish Studies over the years, and hope to continue to represent the CSS at many events to come. You have enabled so much at CSS – thank you for your enormous, unblinking support.

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TOMORROW’S LEADERS

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“The breadth of the Scottish Studies collection drew me to the University of Guelph and

has provided unparalleled support for my graduate research into witchcraft in Scotland’s

Northern Isles. The rich array of resources has heightened my connection to Scottish history

by allowing me to work with diverse materials, including a fourteenth-century land charter

that has been instrumental in my development as a well-rounded scholar.” Brenna Clark is a

second-year Masters student in the history program who’s research focusses on the social

history of early modern Scotland. She has worked extensively with the Scottish medieval

charters that form a prized part of the Archival and Special Collections.

Left: Samantha Brennan and Lisa Baer Rigth: Samantha Brennan and Dr. Sierre Dye

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Conversations and connections at the 2019 Scottish Studies Fall Colloquium

Touring the Scottish treasures at the McLaughlin Library Archival and Special Collec-tions. Seen here from left to right: Douglas Gibson, Canadian editor, publisher, and writer best known as the former president and publisher of McClelland & Stewart, Maggie McEwan and Bob Smart of the Scottish Studies Foundation.

Honouring the late Alan McKenzie - Sept. 22, 1936 - January 2, 2020 - the celebra-tion of a life of distinction.

August 2019 - then president, Franco Vaccarino and VP external, Daniel Atlin wel-comed Lord Lyon to the University of Guelph. A memorable (pre-Covid-19) visit with distinguished guests. Seen here from L to R: Bob Smart, President Vaccarino, Maggie McEwan, Lord Lyon and Daniel Atlin

Maggie McEwan, Lord Lyon, Melissa McAfee, Kathryn Harvey, Bob Smart with the seal of King James V.

The Fall 2019 Colloquium, hosted at the University of Guelph

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The Scottish Studies Foundation

has a foundational influence on the

Scottish Studies graduate program

at the University of Guelph. Your

contributions over the years have helped

our infrastructure, they have enhanced

our programs, and they have brought

advances in equipment that are integral

to the preservation, accessibility, and

widespread awareness of our remarkable

Scottish treasures. Some of the most

extraordinary impacts, however, are

those that your members have brought

to our students.

We hope that you can envision how

broadly and how personally your

contributions touch us. Despite the

conditions imposed by the global

pandemic, and despite the subsequent

‘hybrid’ learning environment, our

students are clearly thriving, and we are

deeply grateful to the Scottish Studies

Foundation for helping us to keep

advanced learning of all things Scottish

a vital and impactful program! Thank you.